bostonbubble.com

[GenXer]

Unions are the problem, actually. They are anachronistic throwbacks. No need for them now, especially in the public sector. A power grab is what unions have been doing since the start. Its time to take the power back where it belongs - to the taxpayers. I'm sure that MA will be the last state to change anything (if ever). This is why people are leaving MA (and why MA has no future, essentially, being in total control by unions in a predatory relationship with the taxpayers).

[Guest]

Sorry, I said I would try to stay out of the dicussion, but I feel
compelled to address a few points.

Both sides bring actuaries to the negotiating table. And retirement
requirements evolve. I don't have the same deal as people before me,
and as of this August, new teachers will have stricter rquirements
than I.

As for me personally, teaching is a second career. I was a software
engineer for eight years. I've been teching for 14 years. I can't
retire until I'm 67.

And who are these mythical teachers that are jacking up their salaries
to $100K with stipends? I split a $1200 stipend with a parent
as co-class advisors.(BTW we donate our stipend to the class treasury
to pay for motorcoaches to their prom).
And I get $1000 as an assistant baseball coach. I'll keep that.

And to the guy who wants to be a teacher in his next life: If you think
you'd make a good teacher and would enjoy it, do it now. There's
always a need for good math, science and SPED teachers.

[BK]

Guest,

It sounds like you are a reasonable guy working for a reasonable school district. The sound practices that happen in your school district are rare - at least from my experience.

This problem is not as extreme in every school district in the country and there is probably a good amount of spending that is force upon school districts by the Feds. Administrator/Superintendent salaries are out of sight and probably deserve more focus than general teacher pay.

Our local school district wants to increase property taxes this year by $400-$500 for the typical $400,000 -$550,00 home. This is a small amount, the trouble is when many school districts need an additional $300-$500 from every Home owner every year. That is a $3,000 - $5,000 increase in property taxes every 10 years - this can't scale when average tax bill is $7,000. The average Tax payer is broke and there isn't any extra money to get. The average homeowner is still watching their Home value drop and many feel helpless. I am happy not to be a home owner. Too many Americans were financing their lives on the back of the boom in Housing prices driven by the Biggest Credit Boom in human history (there has never been anything like the kind of loose credit that existed from 2002-2006).

Credit booms have a psychological impact of society that most don't take the time to appreciate.

I'm picking on Schools because it ties in with the Real Estate bubble. But, the fact is that there we will need austerity measures in every aspect of our lives to deal with our society that spends more wealth than it creates.

I'm curious what you think of the Bill Gates - TED presentation of Education spending?

Thanks for listening.

[Guest]

The retirement is negotialted for the entire state, not by district.

[Guest]

I haven't watched the Gates TED presentation, but I will.
I know Bill Gates is for for teacher accountability using students'
test scores.
I don't categorically dismiss the idea, but I think you need
a good diagnostic test at the beginning of the course so we
can actually know what we're measuring.
I don't actually think we have a systemic problem in the education
system. I know the US ranks 19th or so compared to the other
industrialized countries. But our national mean is being pulled
down by the urban areas. If we filter these scores out, we're right uip
there with the best of them. We're not supposed to mention this, as
it's not politically correct.

[GenXer]

Wanna know why US is behind?

http://www.thecartelmovie.com/

Unions are the problem. Too much money breeds too much corruption, and most of the money is wasted. Public schools are more corrupt than state and local governments. Vouchers will solve this problem quickly. It doesn't matter whether there is a good teacher or not. Some districts have 40% bad teachers that can never be fired.

[Kaidran]

"Some districts have 40% bad teachers that can never be fired. "

Did you know that 68.23% of statistics are just made up?

Guest, would you write what you think needs to happen to make things better? I would be interested to hear first hand thoughts rather than third hand talking points.

[Guest]

As I previously stated, I don't think we have a systemic problem in our
education system. The challenges we teachers deal with are in
competeing with pop culture and all the modern distractions.

The following statements don't refer to ALL kids.
But I do think it's most of them.

When we were growing up, teachers didn't have to compete with Facebook,
smartphones, ipods, Xboxes, cable tv channels. Kids love texting, gaming,
and social media.

My big problem is getting kids to do their homework when they have all of these
other fun things vying for their time. I know that a lot of kids
are just copying someone elses homework and passing it off as
their own.

I often assign reading to my AP Stats classes, and they will even own up
to the fact that they don't do it.

And I believe you learn by doing, not just by watching the teacher.

Also kids have sports, jobs, and friends they want to hang out with.

It can be frustrating.

As I said, It's not al kids. Many are very good students.

[BK]

Guest,

I think you are doing a great job building the case for GenXer.

Cut school spending - and make Parents accountable.

A personal confession - my parents had no interest in my grades and the results were awful. My parents struggled to put food on the table for my large family and grades/school were a low priority.

In my own family - grades and schooling of our child is primary. Small family makes focus of schooling a lot easier. I once read that most students accepted to Harvard are only children or the eldest chile. In my home -No Gameboys - No Game console - we cable TV - but, we have a DVR for select programming. My lovely wife reads to our child every night and this seems to have fostered a love of reading - but, sometimes with parenting you aren't sure if its just dumb luck and genes.

How about Tax Credits to families with children who are excellent students and behave well at school (Tax Credits for Model student behavior).

[Kaidran]

I think we have all agreed that parents make a huge difference from the beginning. I dont think there is any question of that. The draw of attention to technology is a big problem. I can remember at undergrad bigger battles staying away from the Playstation (1) than understanding thermodynamics. Pretending that it is 1950 and this technology has not been invented does not seem like a great answer as kids will have no innate control when they have their freedom.

Cutting schools and putting more emphasis on parents seems to me like a great way to completely doom kids with lousy parents. Possibly if there were penalties as well as rewards, but even then it could lead to an increase in abuse. In my own house my kids are great too and I'd get your tax credit but I am trying to imagine how it might play out in households very different from mine. In my head at least it is not working out so well.

Also how does your current argument fit with the Bill Gates argument, who wants more technology, not less.

[BK]

Technology can possibly reduce the number of professional teachers needed for education or perhaps reduce the number of days kids travel to a school on a bus.

Why can't children do more on-line learning - Online learning has become the norm in many Health fields for Bachelors and Masters programs. Over time you can reduce the number of professional teachers through an on-line curriculum.

Why do students still have Snow days when there are computers in 95% of homes - why aren't kids doing work at home on days when buses can't get them to school. The idea that you have to be sitting in a classroom with a Union employee to do school work is an antiquated idea.

The way Schools are today - has existed for one a nano-second of time - in the entire timeline of history.
Kaidran - I think you'd agree - the current Educational system is working - is too expensive and it will be different in the future -
I'm not a futurist - but, the future will be different than today.

[Kaidran]

Certainly I think it will be different in the future. I just don't understand how you could think it would be better with kids at home in front of a computer when actual professionals struggle when they are standing in front of them. Not to mention the cost of providing PCs to the kids that don't have them at home. (I'd love to see how that policy would be policed.)

Ultimately I think it comes down to overarching political ideals: Dems want everyone to have the best chance possible, no matter how wasteful or abusable the system. Repubs want maximum efficiency and minimum waste, no matter how many kids are doomed to have no future. The answer is of course in the middle. In liberal Massachusetts there are definitely things I would change but I am quite happy with my access to education for my kids. I recently moved to a "nicer" town and consider the school system to be equivalent to or better than a private school in the UK.

The argument on teachers seems to return to the point of view that they are not adding sufficient value to justify their FTEs. I think this is wrong but it is a pervasive view and difficult to measure, even if you try to. Since we have all agreed parental involvement is critical, how can you argue a teacher who works in a school with kids with no parental support is failing?

If you dont like the system then buy a nice house in a cheaper town and homeschool. I know Genxer is planning on doing that. I cannot say I agree with him but I have to admire his commitment.

[balor123]

Is it possible that tablets could change the picture? In the next decade, we might start seeing schools replace textbooks with them. They are robust and will probably be comparable in cost to the books. With such a computing device available to every child, we might find that a teacher could in fact teach from home, using software for displaying slides, flipping through books, and video conferencing.

[Kaidran]

To clarify Genxer has talked a lot in the past about homeschooling. I have no idea about his future house plans.

[Kaidran]

Definitely kids can have access to information that was pretty much unimaginable when we were in HS. Even most local libraries have everything they could need. The problem remains how do you get them to come off Farmville long enough to use it effectively.

I have actually seen this in the Harvard classes, one girl (~20ish) watching videos on her laptop in the middle of class. I feel naive saying it but I was shocked.